3 thoughts on “Greening of the Parrot Diet by Carolyn Swicegood”

Hi, my goffins too has sone funny feathers on the back of her neck. They are like hard and stiff and look a little greasy. She has plucked in the past and wears a soft collar. Shes pretty clear right now but if i take off the collar she goes to town. Could this be diet? She has had every test under the sun. She eats fresh foods. Will she ever be able to go without the collar?

Well sadly it becomes such a habit that many can never break it. Birds are very hard wired and sometimes once they learn a habit, they just dont give up. Since you have had all the testing done, and nothing came back with issues,it could possibly be she might be allergic to something. Feather mutilation and plucking can be brought on by stress and stress can be caused from a multitude of things. It can be caused from being exposed to perfumes, candles, smoke, cleaning products etc, or it can be stress from lack of attention, too much time in their cage, fear of something…maybe too close to a window and they see something outside that frightened them. The possibilities are almost endless as to what the stress can be caused from. It could also be a food allergy as well. Once all medical issues have been ruled out, it is still going to be difficult to find a solid answer. Living in captivity is just harder on some than others. Most who care for birds with this issue, find that it comes and goes throughout their lives and we just try hard to do all we can to make their lives as comfortable as possible. We do all we can to try and help, and then just love them and understand they shouldnt have ever been made into pets.